“Sir, I think….the wisp branch no longer contains the spirit of the woods” The hunter announced while shaking the branch. He signed while waving it around with frustration, trying to see if it would still work. It was no longer emitting the same blue aura that it was before. Even though a wisp branch was an enchanted item from the whispering woods. There was a limit to how much of the woods spirit it could contain and how long it could be used for after being taken from the woods.

The leader of the hunters that had been keeping an eye on changkyun and guarding the front door, rolled his eyes before crossing his arms. Changkyun had been monitoring silently as the hunters searched his apartment.

“I told you to check it before we left...” He complained while rolling his eyes. He tapped his foot in frustration before letting out an even bigger sigh.

“Don’t worry about it, by the looks of things, there isn’t anything suspicious here anyways, let’s clear out” he said while taking a quick look around the apartment. After a quick scan, he motioned to the rest of the hunters to gather up and prepare to move out.

As the hunters gathered up, he turned and focused his attention back to changkyun who was currently cleaning up a photo frame that had been shattered during the collision earlier.
 

“Sorry for the inconvenience, It’s just our routine” He explained and gave a brief bow, which surprised Changkyun. The hunter was looking at changkyuns neck and seemed to be slightly sorry for causing such as large mark. Once the hunters had gathered up, they started to leave the apartment once by one until just the leader was left inside.

Once it was just the two of them, the leader began to apologise once again.

“Sorry for using such force, we were almost certain they had run in here to hide, but it seems not. “ He apologised while rubbing the back of his neck. His ears had turned bright read in embarrassment. Changkyun smirked slightly at the sight and found it a little cute.

“It’s alright” changkyun replied. The hunter smiled back and then bowed goodbye before leaving the apartment and closing the door behind him.

Jooheons curiosity had gotten the better of him as he watched on, peaking around the corner of the bedroom door. He gave a thumbs up, signalling that the coast was clear.

“What….What just happened?” Mihyunk asked in amazement. Stunned by the events that had just unfolded.

“Wasn’t that a wisp branch?! How did it not find us?!” everyone took a moment to think about what just happened. The only conclusion they could come up with was that it was just pure luck.

Everyone was still surprised at what had just happened. They unknowingly continued to stare at each other in disbelief. No keeper had ever escaped a hunter with a wisp branch before. The wisp branch was extremely powerful. As such, the branch was both a blessing and a curse to all keepers alike. When in the hands of keepers, the branch of the wisp tree could be used for strong medicine or for barriers and protection. However, in the hands of the hunters, the branch was used for the use of hunting and tracking keepers of all kinds. The fact that they had run into a hunting group that not only had an elite hunter, but also a wisp branch was rare on its own. But the face that they had managed to escape from being trapped or discovered was a miracle in itself. On the other hand, there was still no clue as to how the branch managed to tun out of magic right at that moment.

“I don’t know what happened, but either way, I’m glad it did” Minhyuk smiled. A huge grin spread across his face.

“By the way Minhyuk….You should probably stop hugging shownu so tight” Kihyun said worringly.

“His going blue” Kihyun laughed while pointing at shownu. Minhyuk looked down and quickly released him from his tight death grip hug before grabbing his cheeks softly.

“Woops” Minhyuk laughed. It seems like he had gotten a little too worried during the whole event and almost suffocated Shownu by accident in the process.

No cliffhangers for this chapter, can't promise for the next chapter though....Thank you to everyone reading and Happy New Years! There will be another chapter tonight since it's a special time!